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Flesh out my fantasy world.
Topic Started: Sep 11 2012, 02:56 PM (3,562 Views)
lamna
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After I ran way crying trying to start my own RP in the same vein as the Cultural Evolution game I decided to get back to it with a fantastic piece. I want to include a variety of species and cultures and both keep it simple and not clichéd.

Here is the map.
Spoiler: click to toggle


Currently the big Northernmost island is inhabited by Dwarves, who rule, the Finns, who enforce that rule and the Saami, who get seven shades of shit kicked out of them whenever they complain about being at the bottom of the pile.

The big green island is inhabited by Elves. I'm not sure what to do with them, arrogant racists and arrogant perfect hippies have been done. I'll probably make them live only 200 or so years, and incapable of hybridizing with humans, or at least not producing very many fertile hybrids.

The yellow islands are inhabited by Dragons, who are intelligent but rather possessive and straight forward, which can make them seem child-like. They also live with humans and act as their nobility, defending them in exchange for the humans doing all the things dragons can't. It's got a reputation as a place the oppressed can flee if they are desperate and willing to work. The dragon's don't care about your ideology or religion as long as they get their sheep tithe.

On the "mainland" are the Human kingdoms. Once most of the island was united under an empire, the empire started to crumble under barbarian attacks, poor harvests, a bad economy and religious strife. The last Emperor decided that to turn things around he would conquer the dragon kingdom, plunder their gold and then use the dragons as soldiers to help restore his empire. The expedition was destroyed and the capital was razed. With no emperor, no capital and hardly any army left the empire collapsed in less than a decade.

One province did manage to survive, mostly thanks to the corrupt governor having skimmed enough money to pay the local barbarians to fight for him rather than sack the place, and when the dust settled he found himself the most powerful and wealthy man left standing so just declared himself Emperor. That's the purple nation.
Edited by lamna, Sep 18 2012, 12:43 PM.
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That's what happens when there are two really strong candidates. Usually it does not though. The whole point of the Kingdom is to protect dragons, from the rest of the world, from hunger and discomfort, and from themselves and their own nature.
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I've modified it a bit.

The reach of the dwarves is long, but in the far north there are places even they cannot reach. The woods and mountains belong to the Saami tribes, the coast, especially Whalebone Bay belong to the Inuit. Few Finns are brave enough to settle here, and hardly any dwarves dare to venture into these wild lands.

In this land there is only one true nation, mighty Vapaavaltio. The huge stone city is built into the mountainside on the inner end of a deep fjord, a refuge for all men who wish to be free.

The mouth of the fjord is guarded by castles and a chain can be dragged across it to stop ships from entering. Surrounded by high mountains the city is almost impossible to reach on foot, completely impossible to bring an army over.

Vapaavaltio also controls a valley further inland, totally isolated from the outside world, except by a tunnel from the city. The valley is home to the farmers who feed the city, along with those who farm the steep edges of the fjord.

I might rename the Finns Kvens, Saami Laps and Inuit Thules.

Also added an island for the Norse/Vikings.
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Edited by lamna, Sep 20 2012, 11:27 AM.
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nice. Feeling a bit more realistic, though still cliche (to be honest I don't think you will be able to avoid that with the way you are taking this but cliché doesnt need to bad)

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The mouth of the fjord is guarded by castles and a chain can be dragged across it to stop ships from entering.

I have seen this in some other books. Has it ever been done in real life?
"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!"



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lamna
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Yes it has. I know the Byzantines did it to guard against the Turks, think the Turks carried on using it to guard Constantinople and I'm pretty sure that it happened during the War of Independence and the American Civil War.

It's not easy to research though, googling usually leads you to places selling ship chains.

This is what the Byzantines used in 1453 to try and stop the Turks getting into the Golden Horn.
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Here we go, the Hudson River Chain. Seems to have worked as the USA is independent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_River_Chain
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Shall I make make a map to show the latitudes involved? The Dragon Realm is about where Greece is.
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yeah, that will be cool. Could it be possible for you to work on a climate map too?
"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!"



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lamna
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Maybe, but it probably won't be correct. Oh well, Tolkien's rivers apparently make no sense.

I may have to push things together to get a decent climate. If I put the Southernmost part of Dwarven lands on about the same latitude as St. Petersburg and Stockholm is pushes most human lands into North Africa.
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Makes sense from a biogeographical stand point.

Would the dwarves be Neanderthals then? They sorta match the traditional depiction of a dwarf. Big, strong, and durable.
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lamna
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No they would not be. The Dwarves would be Dwarves because I've got to come up with a plausible history of the world, I'm not doing a prehistory too.

I'll have other hominids, but they will be tall. More like H. erectus, or it's African cousin, H. erectus. Fuck splitters.
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If I recall correctly, modern man is taller than H. erectus.
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Taller than Neanderthals and dwarves. H. erectus probably had a variable height comparable to humans, without our modern diet and health advantages.
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Probably.
Fakey, where did you get the idea that Neanderthals were taller than Sapians?
To get a good climate map, work on first the winds, major ocean currents and mountains. Then use a decent reference off the internet to work it out.
"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!"



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lamna
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I'm thinking about trying another game inspired by the Thirty Years' War/English Civil War, where the players are lords in control of a Empire on the verge of a civil war. After a few turns there would be an Imperial proclamation where the Emperor demands that all his lords declare for him and you can choose to be loyal or rebel.

I just can't think what the conflict should be about. It's got to be something morally grey, where there is a good case for rebellion as there is for remaining loyal.

I don't think it can be something personal "The Emperor may have raped Baron deSauntfort's cat" is not something peasants are going to care about and fight about for decades.

I'm don't really want to make it about religion, and making it about magic is a little cliché.

Maybe the Emperor wants to curtail Lord's rights to do something good, but that would increase his (and his heirs) power, so it would have parallels to the American Civil War, where state's rights were being infringed to end slavery.
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I'm naming most of them by picking random German, Czech, Swedish and Norwegian names.
1. Königslutter
2. Groß Oesingen
3. Olsberg
4. Altdorf
5. Kappl
6. Hartberg
7. Aukrug
8. Grambow
9. Blížejov
10. Essing
11. Zusamzell
12. Helseth
13. Ljusdal

14. Orodmark
15. Westenmark
16. Südmark
17. Ostmark
18. Hithmark
19. Thônmark
20. Tatharmark

21. Grenzland
22. Nord Grenzland

23. Imperial Province
24. Maring
25. Neue Land

A. Kingdom of Arles
B. Lechici Commonwealth
C. Shashka Khanate
D. Tufara Republic
E. Kingdom of Borszeg
Edited by lamna, Oct 11 2012, 05:49 PM.
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The Universal Empire, better known as the Goldenbaum dynasty was at it's zenith in 612. Stretching from the frozen north to the Elvish marches the empire was vast and wealthy. It's fleets were the envy of the world and prosperous colonies were springing up in Neue Land.

But this time of peace could not last, the Empire was an incredibly loose organisation with very little of the Empire being directly ruled by the central government. Most of the lands were almost entirely autonomous fiefs where the lords had the power foreign kings would be jealous of.

For generations the goblins* of the empire had been enslaved, treated as little more than animals. Attitudes started to change in the 500's with many advocating for the liberation of the goblins. This movement was supported by the emergence of a new heretical cult, which rejected worship of the Father entirely, favouring exclusive Mother worship.

The new Emperor favours reform, and many suspect he is a secret mother cultist. In 608 he outlawed slavery in the parts of the empire that he directly ruled, and in 610 decreed exclusive Mother worship a protected religion. In 611 there was a Goblin uprising in Maring. The local Baron was ruthless in putting it down, shelling a town harbouring escaped slaves until the entire place was destroyed, killing over ten thousand people.

In response the Emperor recalled the Baron to the capital, supposedly to reward him for putting down the rebellion. The reward turned out to be a public beheading by the Emperor himself as soon as the Baron left his carriage. As for the Baron's family everyone older than 10 and younger than 70 was executed, the few survivors exiled to Neue Land with the Emperor's sister took over the Barony.

Tensions are high, it is expected soon the Emperor will start stripping the lords of their rights to impose his will, or make the Mother cult the official religion or worse. Castles are repaired, gunpowder stockpiled and men called up. War is coming.

*If you've got a better race to be enslaved than goblins I'm all ears.
Edited by lamna, Oct 10 2012, 06:16 PM.
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WINTER IS COMING

Goblins don't seem like very useful slaves. I'm not sure what goblins are like in your world, but in most fantasy worlds they're small and mischievous, or at the very least the latter. Trolls would likely be better, they have a reputation for being big, strong, and dumb as rocks.
Edited by Ànraich, Oct 10 2012, 06:20 PM.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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lamna
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It is getting a bit nippy.

I'm thinking of man-sized creatures, probably more like Orcs. I just used Goblin because it sounds a bit smarter and less martial.

Trolls are usually huge and stupid, I want mine to be smaller. I might go with something very similar to the Orcs of the Elder Scrolls and WoW. Distinct enough for some to see as mindless monster fit only for manual labour, but human enough for people to sympathise with easily.

There will be three ways to play, classes I suppose. Though if you're very successful/screw up you can get promoted/demoted.

Feudal Lord
Rebel Leader
Mercenary Capitan

Feudal Lords will have to declare for the Emperor or against him, but there is nothing saying you have to tell the truth or can't change sides.
There are several kinds of rebels. Religious rebels are people opposed to the local government's religion, most will be Mother cultists, at least at first. Ethnic rebels using the situation to gain independence or autonomy for their group the Empire is German-ish but there are Czechs in the centre of the Empire, Finns in the north and Elves in the south. You also have slave rebellions and your basic rebels who just don't like the guy ruling them at the moment.
Mercenaries fight for whoever they want, but it would be wise not to pick someone your men won't trust, or who might not be able to pay or would sell you out.

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Age of the Empire at War

The setting is inspired by Thirty Years' War, the English Civil War, the Ōnin War and the following Sengoku era. Cannons and muskets are common, but primitive. Pikes are still vitally important, as is armoured cavalry.

You play as either a Feudal Lord, a Rebel Leader or a Mercenary Captain and you fight for survival as the Universal Empire collapses into a decades long civil war.
Edited by lamna, Oct 11 2012, 03:22 AM.
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